reynolds



(No Model.)

G- H.REYN-OLDS.

ELEVATOR;

Patented Mar. 3, 1885.

NHE STATES- GEORGE H. REYNOLDS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TG CRANE BROTHERS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILL.

ELEVATO R.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.313,241, dated March 3, 1885.

Application filed November 28, 1884. (No model.)

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. REYNOLDS,

of the city and county of New York, in the v State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Elevators, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to both freight and passenger elevators which-are operated either by steam, hydraulic, or other power. The

car, cab, or platform of a modern elevator is usually provided, in addition to the hoisting ropes or cables, with a counterbalance rope or cable,to which is attached aweight nearly equal to the weight of the car, cab, or platform with- I 5 out any load. As now arranged, the hoistingcables and counterbalance-cables are entirely distinct from each other, and in case of the parting of the hoisting-cables the car or cab would, in case of the failure of the safety appliances to act, fall with a force proportioned to the unbalanced weight therein, while the counterbalance-weight would crash upward to the top of the shaft, and in case of the counterbalance-cables parting by the shock would 2 fall to the bottom of the shaft. In case of the parting of the counterbalance-cables, the hoisting-cables remaining intact, the weight will fall at once to the bottom of the shaft.

An important object of my invention is to 0 supersede this entire separation of the hoisting and counterbalance cables by an arrangement whereby, in case of the parting of the counterbalancecables, the counterbalance vation of portions of the cables and the weight on a larger scale. Fig. 3 is a plan of the Weight and a horizontal section of the cables;

and Fig. 4 is a plan of a clamp which is secured to the hoisting-cable immediately over the counterbalance-weight, and which is shown in Fig. 2.

Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures.

A designates the car, which is to be'raised 5 along guides in a shaft not here represented.

It is now customary to employ a number of hoisting-cables, and I have here shown four hoisting-cables,B, which are attached to the cab by suitable connections, such as are'ordi- 6o narily used, and which are carried or passed over the usual sheaves, O, which may be one or more in number, and from thence downward to the motor which produces the rising and falling movement of the cab, whether such motor be asteam elevator engine, a shaft driven by power, or a hydraulic cylinder and piston. I have not shown any motor, as it forms-no part of my invention. 7

D designates the counterbalance weight, which is suspended by cables E, which are here shown as two, formed by a single wire rope of proper size, having its bight E secured fast in the weight, and thereby forming the equivalent of two separate ropes. As 7 here shown, the counterbalance-cables E are carried over the same sheaves, O, which carry the hoisting-ropes B.

It is not essential to my invention that the two sets of cables B E should be carried over the same sheaves 0; but it is very important that the downwardly-extending portions of the hoisting ropes or cables B should be closely adjacent to the weight D. In this example of my invention the weight D is slotted or open at the center, a, and through the opening thus provided the cables B depend freely and without binding in the weight. The said weight is composed of. two parts, as here shown, or is divided vertically, and said two 0 parts are held together by bolts 1) and nuts or other suitable means. The bight E of the counterbalance-cables E rests in a groove between the two sections, and is thereby securely held between them and attached to the weight. 5

During ordinaryoperation, and so long as both the cables D and E remain intact, the weight and cables move together, and as the hoistingcables B are kept taut by the weight of the car or cab upon them, they serve in a measure to guide the weight, and no slideway or other guide therefor will be necessary unless the space for the movement of the weight is much restricted, in which event ordinary fixed guides may be provided for the weight. During ordinary operation the Weightis wholly sustained by the counterbalance-cables E, and no part of such weight comes upon the hoisting-cables.

Upon the hoisting ropes or cables B, immediately below the weight D, is secured a clamp, F, and secured to said ropes or cables above the weights is a similar clamp, F. Each of theseclamps may consist of two parts or sections, notched or grooved on their adjacent faces for the cables B, and clamped securely thereon by bolts d. The upper clam-p, F, extends beyond the counterbalance-cables E in this example of the invention, but does not bite thereon, the recesses aim the clampsections being so large that they do not hold on thecables E, as is most clearly shown in Fig. 4.

The clamps F F form stops or abutments on the hoisting-cables, and maybe of any suitable construction, the only requisite being that they shall be capable of being secured onthe hoist in gcables so tightly as to render th eiracciden'tal displacement impossible. They'are arranged in such relation to the weightD that when the weight hangssolely suspended by its cables E the clamps, stops, or abutments FF willbe just out of contact with the ends of the weight. Suppose, now, that the counterbalance-cables E part. The weight, instead of crashing down theshaft, settles slightly and rests and is supportedon the lower clamp, stop, or abutment, F, and is thereby simply transferred to. the hoistingcables B. It still serves its purpose as a-counter-balance, and the running of the elevator with the weight on the hoisting-cables may be continued until a new counterbalance-cablec'an be procured. "On'the'other hand, suppose that the hoisting-cables B part between the weight and the car or cab. The car or cab, being-entirely free from the hoisting-cables, settles slightly, thereby raising the weight until it comes against the upper stop, clamp,-or abutment, F, whereupon the car or cab is arrested, and the counterbalan ce-cables E aretransformcd into hoisting-cables, and may continue to serve such purpose until new hoisting-cables can be procured; hence the car cannot fall in the event ofthe hoistingcables parting and the safety appliances failing to act.

I have referred herein to safety appliances in a general wayas they are now universally used on elevators. Any suitable appliances may beused, and they form no part of my invention.

It is not essential that the hoisting-cables B should pass through the weight D; but they should be so closely adjacent thereto that the clamps F E, which form the stops or abutments, are within the range or path of the weight in its rise and fall.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, with an elevator car, cab, or platform and its hoisting and counterbalance cables, of a weight suspended by the counterbalance-cable and a stop or abutment upon the hoisting-cable below the weight and in the path thereof, whereby the'weight will be sustained by said stop or abutment and hoisting-cable in case the counterbalance-cable parts, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

2. The combination, with an elevator car, cab, or platform and its hoisting and counterbalance cables, of a weight suspended by the counterbalance-cable and a stop or abutment on the hoisting-cable above theweight and in.

the path thereof, whereby the counterbalancecable will be transformed into a hoisting-cable in the event of the hoisting-cable proper parting, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

3. The combination, with an elevator car, cab, or platfornr and its counterbalance cable and weight, of a hoisting cable or cables received through said weight, and provided below the weight with a stop or abutment to sustain'the weight on the parting of the counterbalance-cable, substantially as herein described.

4. The combination, with an elevator car,

cab, or platform and its counterbalance cable and weight, of a hoisting cable or cables received through the said weight, and provided above the weight with a stoporabutment which will arrestthe rising movement of theweight if the hoisting cable or cables part, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

5. The combination, with the car, cab, or platform, of the hoisting and counterbalance cables, a hollow weight suspended by the counterbalance-cable and receiving the hoistingcable through it, and stops or abutments on the hoistingcable above and below said weight, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

6. The combination, with the car, cab, or platform, of a counterbalance cable or cables consisting of a single cable doubledupon itself and having its ends secured tothe car, cab, or platform, and acounterbalance-weight suspended from the bight of the double cable, substantially as herein described.

7. The combination, with the car, cab, or platform and its hoisting and counterbalance cables, of a hollow weight to whichthe counterbalance-cable is attached and through which the hoisting cable depends, whereby the cable is attached and through which the hoistweight is guided by the hoisting-cable, subing-cable depends, substantially as herein destantially as herein described. scribed.

8. The combination, with the car, cab, 0r GEO. H. REYNOLDS. 5 platform and its hoisting and counterbalance Witnesses:

cables, of sheaves common to both cables, and MATTHEW POLLOOK, a hollow weight to which the counterbalance- O. HALL. 

